Orioles interested in OF Hyun-Soo Kim

[harp6]

It is difficult to compare Korea baseball to MLB. For comparison purposes, I will bring up some other players that have played in both leagues.

Why not bring back Eric Thames, Jim Adduci, Andy Marte, Felix Pie, Brett Pill, or Yamaico Navarro. They all seem to put up very good lines in Korea. Thames even had 47 Hrs, 103 walks, a .381 batting average, .497 obp, .790 slg, and a 1.288 ops. But wait...these guys already tried it in MLB and weren't that good, so they left to go play in Korea, where they can put together great seasons.

I would be very hesitant to pay a player coming out of Korea a lot of money. All these players put up very similar lines to Hyun-soo Kim's stats, but could not make it in MLB. The only thing Hyun-Soo Kim has over the other guys is that he walks more than most of them. All the other guys put up similar or even better numbers in many other hitting categories. Three of them, Thames, Pie, and Navarro were even in the O's system at some point. Navarro had 48 hrs this past season in Korea. Thames had 47. It just isn't that easy to hit Hrs in MLB as it is in Korea.

[Can_of_corn]

Age? Injuries? Complacency? Change of venue? I can only wildly speculate.

Also, if the Gnats are in on both Parra and O'Day are they just messing with the Orioles?

I don't think the O's are in on O'Day. I don't think Dan has any intention of matching the highest bid.

[Aristotelian]

The only thing Hyun-Soo Kim has over the other guys is that he walks more than most of them.

Which is exactly what we need. (Also does not strike out, at all). My hope would be that his walk rate might translate well to MLB. I would not spend too much but I am interested in this guy as a poor man's Choo, who has been an on base machine in MLB. If he walks 100 times and doesn't cost much, I would be fine if he never hits a home run.

[DrungoHazewood]

It is difficult to compare Korea baseball to MLB. For comparison purposes, I will bring up some other players that have played in both leagues.

Why not bring back Eric Thames, Jim Adduci, Andy Marte, Felix Pie, Brett Pill, or Yamaico Navarro. They all seem to put up very good lines in Korea. Thames even had 47 Hrs, 103 walks, a .381 batting average, .497 obp, .790 slg, and a 1.288 ops. But wait...these guys already tried it in MLB and weren't that good, so they left to go play in Korea, where they can put together great seasons.

I would be very hesitant to pay a player coming out of Korea a lot of money. All these players put up very similar lines to Hyun-soo Kim's stats, but could not make it in MLB. The only thing Hyun-Soo Kim has over the other guys is that he walks more than most of them. All the other guys put up similar or even better numbers in many other hitting categories. Three of them, Thames, Pie, and Navarro were even in the O's system at some point. Navarro had 48 hrs this past season in Korea. Thames had 47. It just isn't that easy to hit Hrs in MLB as it is in Korea.

This is where you need to scout the heck out of the players and then build in the risk in your price. If you can't get the player for your price you pass. I'm not convinced that Thames or Pie or Adduci or others might not be acceptable MLB players if they were to come back to the US. I also think there's probably some ceiling where you start Barry Bondsing a player and pitching around him all the time. For example, let's say Chris Davis somehow signed to play in Korea. He's not going to OPS 2.100 or something. He's not going to hit 125 homers. There's probably no Korean League performance that would translate to an excellent MLB player's stats. Translations aren't all linear percentages. Just because Eric Thames OPS'd 1.110 doesn't mean everyone in Korea is terrible. Kang had comparable numbers to Thames a year ago, and he was very good for the Pirates.

[DrungoHazewood]

Which is exactly what we need. (Also does not strike out, at all). My hope would be that his walk rate might translate well to MLB. I would not spend too much but I am interested in this guy as a poor man's Choo, who has been an on base machine in MLB. If he walks 100 times and doesn't cost much, I would be fine if he never hits a home run.

I would expect, based on limited data, someone coming from Korea to the majors to lose maybe half their walks per PA.

[sportsfan8703]

The Nationals apparently love him.

They also loved Nate McClouth. Let them keep taking our guys once we are finished with them.

[higgybaby]

I would expect, based on limited data, someone coming from Korea to the majors to lose maybe half their walks per PA.

That sounds a bit high to me.

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[harp6]

Which is exactly what we need. (Also does not strike out, at all). My hope would be that his walk rate might translate well to MLB. I would not spend too much but I am interested in this guy as a poor man's Choo, who has been an on base machine in MLB. If he walks 100 times and doesn't cost much, I would be fine if he never hits a home run.

We need walks, but two of the players I mentioned did have walks very similar to Kim last year. Kim also started his career with good walk rates and then his walk rate started to drop. Last year, he had a bounce back year, but 2012-2014, he only averaged about 55 walks per season. Also all of the players I mentioned had a much higher walk rate in Korea than in the U.S.

[weams]

Age? Injuries? Complacency? Change of venue? I can only wildly speculate.

Also, if the Gnats are in on both Parra and O'Day are they just messing with the Orioles?

I'd say that team ain't messin' with no one. They are the biggest under performer in MLB.

[harp6]

That sounds a bit high to me.

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But when you factor that Kim only averaged about 55 walks a season from 2012-2014, then it would seem reasonable for his rate to potentially drop by half.

[weams]

We need walks, but two of the players I mentioned did have walks very similar to Kim last year. Kim also started his career with good walk rates and then his walk rate started to drop. Last year, he had a bounce back year, but 2012-2014, he only averaged about 55 walks per season. Also all of the players I mentioned had a much higher walk rate in Korea than in the U.S.

Why do we need walks again?

[El Gordo]

Why do we need walks again?

Because if we don't sign CD we have only one player who gets on base. Can't hit too many Earls with no one on base.

[weams]

If they got on base another way that would be ok though right? They would not have to walk with this new expanded strike zone.

[TheWall]

Unless we plan on signing a few guys that will be batting .300+ we're going to need more walks.

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[mdbdotcom]

We need to sign more guys who hit into errors, because errors demoralize the opposition and make their pitcher mad.